Death of Vangelis, composer of "Blade Runner" and "Chariots of Fire"

Europe 1 with AFP 9:39 p.m., May 19, 2022, modified at 9:39 p.m., May 19, 2022

Greek composer of

and

, Vangelis Papathanassiou, nicknamed Vangelis, has died aged 79, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced Thursday evening.

"Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us," the Prime Minister tweeted.

"The music world has lost international (artist) Vangelis," his tweet added.

Ο Βαγγέλης Παπαθανασίου δεν είναι, πια, κοντά μας.

Για όλον τον κόσμο, η θλιβερή είδηση ​​δηλώνει πως ταγκόσμιο μουσικό στερέωμα έχασε τον Διεθνή vangelis.

Τον πρωτεργάτη του ηλεκτρονικού je, των όσκαρ, της μυθωδίας και των μεγάλων επιτυχιών.

— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) May 19, 2022

A pioneer of electronic music, this autodidact had found his inspiration in space exploration, nature, futuristic architecture, the New Testament and the student movement of May 1968. His soundtrack for

won an Oscar against music by John Williams made for Indiana Jones' 1982 debut film. lawyer quoted Thursday by the Greek news agency ANA.

The music of 

Missing

, 

Lunes de fiel

 and

Alexandre

According to several Greek media, Vangelis died of the coronavirus in France where he shared his time with London and Athens.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis also pointed out that Vangelis' middle name was Ulysses.

"For us Greeks, this means that he began his great journey on the chariots of Fire. From there he will always send us his notes," tweeted Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Among the dozen soundtracks he has composed are those for the Costa-Gavras film

,

Roman Polanski 's

and Oliver Stone's